S73 Draft Interview: First Gen Success

[Patrik Tallinder 1,087]

In each draft, we see a mix of talent from both new users, as well as older users who have already created a player before. The security of knowing that an older member is much less likely to go inactive is enough for GMs to form a bias in their favour, and that leaves first generation players in a bit of a tough spot. They have more to prove, and need to work harder to convince the league of their worth as a prospect. In order to capture the experience of being a first gen player in today’s VHL, and to find out what leads to their success, I have put together an interview with some of the top first gens of recent times.

 

The interview consists of three S73 prospects who are gearing up for their VHL Draft this offseason, and three of the top first gens of the S70’s so far. Let’s get to the participants.
 

S73

• @dlambDakota Lamb: Lamb is a centre prospect currently playing for the Miami Marauders, who put up an impressive 93 points on the season. He has grown into a high quality TPE earner, averaging 23 TPE over his last 5 full weeks.

• @Mongoose87Kosmo Kramerev: Another Marauder, Kramerev has displayed nothing short of elite offensive ability this season, with 29 goals and 106 points as a defenceman. His TPE earning is also nice, especially in terms of capitalizing on uncapped TPE opportunities.

• @IamMOOSEKevin King: Listed as one of my underdogs in my recent VSN article, King is an extremely high upside pick who just joined in the last week of S73 eligibility. The numbers haven’t come yet for King, but I think he will break out in the playoffs.

 

 

S70’s

• @ROOKIE745(S70) Jaxx Hextall: Toronto’s starter, Hextall has not even slowed down at all since his late surge in the S70 Draft. Averaging 26 TPE in his last 5 full weeks, the Canadian goalie has been maintaining an almost surreal rate of TPE production.

• @Pengu(S71) Pengu: One of the frontrunners for the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, Pengu has been a high quality first generation player for Riga so far in his career. With his recent hiring onto the VSN team, Pengu is still managing to find ways to further establish himself in this league.

• @Spartan(S72) Alex Letang: A member who made an immediate impact following his entry into the league, Letang has wasted no time becoming a core piece of the VHL. He has two jobs, being an updater and a VHLM GM. He has been a force in the VHLM this season, and could take the VHL by storm very soon.

 

Now that we know all the interviewees, let’s get to the interview!
 

 

How did you find the VHL? Did you have any prior sim league experience?

Spoiler

Lamb: VHL has been awesome so far. With not alot else going on, it's been fun to put time into, developing my graphic and writing skills on the side, as well as meeting some great people. Not really anything like this, I played a lot of Eastside Hockey Manager, and still do, but that's about it.

 

Pengu: I found VHL through SBA, unfortunately right at the cataclysm so I'm missing out on that easy affiliate life.

 

Kramerev: Prior to the VHL, I'd been involved in the SHL and NSFL, both of which I was fine with, though I've just returned to the NSFL. I'm also in head office at SCFSL. 

 

I was simmer for a hockey league called GOMHL, and GM of a team called the Seattle Spartans, there. They don't usually have simmers running teams, but the league was desperately short on people engaged enough to do real work.

 

When I first started with Seattle, I had one stalwart, a guy who was never gonna walk, a guy who was in it for the haul. His player was my goalie, Terran Ghost.

 

I was GM for something like five seasons before dwindling participation got to the point of no return. The other GMs and I were burned out on trying to prop up a corpse. We folded the league.

 

Ghost was the first guy I told. We agreed we wanted to stay in contact, and he told me about the VHL. His username here is @der meister. We both spent our waiver season with the Marlins - I signed with them because of him.

 

Letang: I found the VHL through the recommendation of three members: @McWolf, @Lefty_S, and @BladeMaiden. I first joined the EFL through Lefty, who I've known for almost a year now, and then met Blade and McWolf pretty soon as I was trying to figure out which collegiate team to join. Through those chats, we became friends and they both strongly recommended the VHL to me, and I'm really glad that I took them up on their suggestions!

 

Hextall: I was made aware of the VHL by @Enorama, I was on the NHL.66 site when he happen to stop by and I was so interested in his logo, which was an icon of the rather new D.C Dragons team he was the GM of, I just kept asking about it, wouldn't be surprised if I annoyed him a bit. Anyway though he mentioned all of that and the VHL so I decided to follow up and check it out. I had no prior experience with any kind of sim league.

 

King: I found the league through a recruitment post on the NHLFranchise subreddit. I usually don’t bother with that stuff, but I took a look at it this time. I hesitated, figuring these sim leagues take up some time but after a day I created my player and joined the league’s discord. I don’t have any prior sim league experience though I ran a league on GM Connected back on NHL 14.

 

 

Who helped you the most in the early stages of your career? How so?

Spoiler

Lamb: Miami's management team has been awesome to us. @Ricer13 and @bigAL have been super helpful and encouraging to us, keeping us involved and helping us get the most TPE we can. A couple of my friends (osens and dart) joining and also being on Miami has created sort of a friendly rivalry thing going on to push us harder.

 

Pengu: I didn't understand a lot and I was going to make a lot of poor choices. Luckily, @Dil helped develop my VHL player.

 

Kramerev: I have to echo lamber's sentiments here. The management team in Miami is great. They know the league, and they've helped develop a really positive environment in the locker room, where everyone is comfortable asking questions and helping out.

 

Letang: I'd probably have to point to @McWolf again here, and also @Poptart and @Proto. McWolf was always a helpful figure since he recruited me to the league, and guided me before and after I was drafted in the M. Once I was drafted though, Poptart always had his DM's open to me, and helped me really get on my feet and running. Proto was also a great GM who gave me a leadership role in the server, and set me up to become the current GM of the Las Vegas Aces!

 

Hextall: Most of the help in my early VHL days came from @Enorama, I can be a bit slow to open up so I can tend to rely on one person too much but plenty of people seemed eager to help me. All of these guys told me various information about gaining TPE, recommending builds for my goalie, who I should join as my first VHLM team, and about draft day. A lot of this help overlaps with several people so I can't remember who exactly did what, Enorama of course as mentioned above, his AGM at the time McWolf, the GM of the Halifax 21st at the time @fonziGG and teammate I had there @Doomsday, and finally the late and great Elmebeck. I will say out of all the people that helped me Elmebeck seemed just so passionate about helping me and telling me about the league, rest in peace friend, thank you for all your help.

King: Definitely @Spartan. The beginner guides, rules, and activities are a lot to go through. Without Spartan there that first night to show me the ropes and give me a mini breakdown of stuff I’d still be struggling with some of the basic stuff. Also, gotta shout out @DMaximus who was also super helpful that first night.

 

 

How big of a part did your teammates in the LR play in making you feel welcome? Was (or is) that a place where you spend a lot of time?

Spoiler

Lamb: Oh yeah, being a new franchise, we have sort of a "us against them" mentality, which keeps us strong as a team. I spend a decent amount of time there, as i'm always around on discord. Almost everyone talks equally, it's a great place to just hangout.

 

Pengu: Halifax 21st was absolutely crazy and a bit too much. However, I enjoyed it a lot surprisingly! Las Vegas Aces was a nice change of pace so I appreciate both VHLM teams where I developed.

 

Kramerev: I think, with Miami being an expansion, and full of first gens and all rookies, it's really created this great situation where we're all in the same place. And, everyone understands we're not expecting to be world beaters, but at the same time, we're all competing to sneak into the playoffs and surprise someone.

 

Letang: Teammates have always been a big part of LR's for me. It's the biggest reason I stayed so active in Moscow's LR and LVA's LR, simply because I enjoyed the people in there: both my teammates and the alumni. They're still places I spend quite a bit of time in, especially with the recreates that landed in LVA.

 

Hextall: I always feel welcomed in the LR, I don't feel like I've been in the most active ones but check them plenty and I may chime in on occasion. I think the most active LR I was ever in was the Season 70 Minnesota Storm, that was a great time!

 

King: At first (and probably still at times) I stayed out of chat. Was just kind of feeling out the room, the players, just getting used to the league and team. I’ve definitely gotten more active in the chat and will work on trying to be even more active still. I generally stay on my team’s general chat most of the time. I never use the league chat anymore but again, that’s nothing against the chat itself or anyone in it. I just usually spend more time looking for ways to get more TPE. I probably spend the most time on the forum looking for more stuff to do. I feel I’m starting behind so I’m crunching to get the most I can out of weekly earnings.

 

 

How much attention did you (or do you) pay to the official draft rankings?

Spoiler

Lamb: I pay a lot of attention to it, maybe too much. I'm pushing myself to get drafted as high as possible, and I look for the rankings to see my reward. But I guess none of it matters until draft day.

 

Pengu: None at all, there's no way to catch up to some players. All I can hope for is to make my player as efficient as possible! I mean I got drafted 10th early so I can't complain.

 

Kramerev: I don't seek them out myself, I know better than to feed my ego like that. But, a few people in the locker room have pointed them out to me, or I've been tagged in them, and I take a look. I never put too much stock into this sort of thing. A lot of things can happen between now and the draft.

 

Letang: I paid a bit of attention to them as a rookie, since it's always nice to get some attention from people who keep an eye on rookies. It was also a nice way to kind of measure myself against the people in my class, and set me up to be competitive. Having those rankings has always pushed me to try to do better, and I think in check, it's a great mentality.

 

Hextall: I started watching it a lot when it was getting really close to draft day, there was only one goalie ahead of me in the draft and I used that as motivation to push myself as much as possible to get TPE, I just found it fun to move up the draft rankings. Being out of the draft now though I only check it once in a while, I do like seeing where the new batch of players are at.

 

King: Before the deadline I looked once just to get familiar with some players and names. Since deadline day I’ve been laser focused on it. I’m a GM at heart so the draft is fascinating to me. You can tell a lot about a draft class and current teams based just on a mock draft or a live ranking. I got answers to a lot about some less defined or maybe unasked questions I may have had later just from looking at the mock draft. So, it is important. As for rankings, especially for myself I’m not too concerned. I looked more for fellow teammates who will be making the jump to the VHL right away and where they may end up in the draft. I also focused on comments that related to where the writer feels the team is at and whether that matches up at all with what I’ve heard from that particular GM or AGM.

 

 

Did you (or do you) ever feel overlooked due to being a first gen player?

Spoiler

Lamb: Maybe sometimes, as some people will be drafted based off namesake, but I think I can and am showing what I have to be chosen over some vets to VHL.

 

Pengu: Maybe, not too sure. I don't really pay attention. I just try to be a consistent and helpful player for the team.

 

Kramerev: Just once, when they were choosing the World Juniors teams. I have the 26th best P/20 in the VHLM, 5th among defensemen. Seems like a guy someone would want.

 

Letang: From personal experience, some people have straight up said that first-gens have a red flag of just being a new member. You never know when they could decide to go inactive, which is a fair thought. But I always considered that applicable to all users, not just first-gens. If you continue to give first gens like us a platform to grow, develop, and be appreciated, the risk of us leaving or going inactive decreases significantly.

 

Hextall: To being a proper first gen player yes, I did feel overlooked to a degree. I was BPA'ed but if I hadn't been I knew the Dragons would choose me, I later found out that the Legion would have picked me, which is where I ended up regardless. I don't feel like the whole first gen issue is as bad as some might make it out to be, but I believe it's there, with a true first gen player you're never sure if they're just gonna up and disappear one day so going with a recreate is understandably a safer option.

King: I don’t think overlooked is the word I’d use, more restricted. Overlooked insinuates that you’re doing articles, writing media spots, doing podcasts, talking constantly, and/or putting up loads of points in sim and still aren’t getting any mentions by anyone for anything. From what I’ve seen since my opening days here; chances are if you’re being consistent with your updates, doing stuff to earn, being active in the league, socially, content wise, even through sim, you’ll get the recognition for it. Where I wonder about other first gen players, especially those who join midseason or later like I did, is whether or not they also feel a little restricted by the lack of uncapped TPE. I’ve never felt overlooked, but Spartan can attest to the frustrations I’ve had with hitting that capped weekly wall with nothing more to really do after a Wednesday.

 

 

How do you feel about the new late joiner adjustments? How much has that helped you? In the case of the older first gens, how much would that have helped you in your draft season?

Spoiler

Lamb: It helped in the beginning, as I joined when there wasn't a lot going on (no trivia, etc). But I'm always hungry for more free TPE.

 

Pengu: Whatever helps the health of the league. People will always miss out on one benefit or the other and to think it's unfair is silly. Just enjoy the game!

 

Kramerev: I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I managed to put up a few points in the playoffs, right after I joined. Gotta think the adjustment played a serious role in that.

 

Letang: I do like the late joiner adjustments, it definitely helps out people who created much later through no fault of their own. As a user who created a couple days before the VHLM draft, I wish I had that boost haha. I might have been able to jump up to Moscow a season earlier, but I don't really linger on it. I got almost a full extra season to earn well above 250, which just sets me up for more success in the VHL.

 

Hextall: Having joined before that became a thing, it would have been a nice boost since my first 3 weeks were kinda slow, also the fact that I believe I joined right before the cut off between being a S70 draftee or S71 draftee, I think about a week or two? Either way I approve of it, and it's important to note that it doesn't just give you max TPE from all the weeks you missed, it just helps you have a better start so you're not so behind.

King: I think the late joiner adjustments are nice and do the job they’re meant to do. You joined late, it’s not a knock on anyone (I joined late). Sure, it’s not your fault, how could you have known? Fact still remains, with all the adjustments and extra points to catch you up with the rest of the league already in progress you should still be a notch below a guy or gal who has spent the entire season up to now, grinding out media spots, putting out graphics, writing articles, posting in the discord. You’re going to, and definitely should fall in line behind those types of players from your class. That being said, I do like that there is a system to help late joiners succeed. It’s an honorable thing to do and the only tweak I would make to the system at all is that new players can’t access their update player page until they’ve signed with a team. It’s not to restrict new players, but to help them avoid loading their fresh gen one player with poorly placed TPE. Speaking as someone who was guilty of it day one, you get to that How to Build a Player Guide a bit too late and you’ve got 10 TPE in Leadership and 5 in Discipline before you know that you fucked up.

 

 

What is your plan to establish yourself as a top prospect in the draft? Are you trying to stay consistent, looking for jobs, etc...

(This question is only for the s73 players)

Spoiler

Lamb: I'm doing the most I can. Applying for every job opening, being active (in Miami LR and VHL discord), participating in things like the chess tournament, and staying awfully consistent. Like I said before, whatever it takes to boost my draft stock.

 

Kramerev: I'm just doing my best to be consistent in my activity level. My experience with the sim has taught me a fair amount about building a player, and I think my point totals reflect that. So, as long as I maintain my scoring-passing-skating ratio and keep pumping my TPE totals, I'm sure things will go well.

King: I just stay active. I’m always posting new content, getting that max weekly capped TPE. I always want more TPE. I ask daily (much to the likely annoyance of Spartan lol) if there’s any uncapped TPE I can grab somewhere. I’m settled on the fact that I’m not going super high in the draft just based on how late I joined and how deep the pool is this season. I’d like to get more active on Discord and reviewing stuff. I still have no followers on the forum lol. I don’t really know much about the jobs and things on here yet. Probably something I should look into more.

 

 

What is your biggest piece of advice to new first gen players?

(This is only for the older first gens)

Spoiler

Pengu: Set your own goals. Figure out what you want to achieve in the league and develop towards it!

 

Spartan: Honestly, just enjoy every day. Appreciate the people in your LR, the content posted by other members, and just the general buzz of activity that happens every day. It's a great community, so have fun in it. Competitively, just set goals for yourself as Pingu said. If that means just hitting a certain level of TPE per week, so be it. If it means just learning some things about graphics creation, that's awesome as well. There's loads of opportunities to get better in so many different ways, just make sure to actively seek them out!

 

Hextall: Hard to not want to copy what other guys said, just move at your own pace. All the info can be overwhelming at first so digest it at your own speed, don't worry about being a max earner your first week or getting every task done if it seems like too much. For the first 3 weeks I did what was recommended to me, trivia, pressers, welfare, practice. Once I felt comfortable I started doing articles and media spots, if I miss a week that's fine, it's about pacing yourself. Slowly work yourself up to it. This won't apply to some people because some people can just jump right in and take all of this info right up front but it was my take away when I was new here.

 

And with that, we’re finished! Being a S69 first gen myself, I can relate to a lot of the answers in this interview. If I were to answer the last question as well, I would just say to find something that you’re excited to do whenever you log on. Whether that’s writing articles, doing graphics or podcasts, managing a team, or one of an abundance of other options, you should give yourself a reason to come on here every week. For me, that became writing draft articles. When I joined, there wasn’t much draft content at all, so I tried to make it myself. Now, I’m able to do that same thing that drew me into the league, except for VSN now!

 

Anyways, this was a fun interview, and I may end up doing more of these next season. Huge thanks to everyone who participated; I wish you all the best with your players!

[ROOKIE745 604]

It was great to be apart of this!! and I appreciate that you put the text for Elmebeck in bold, I feel very lucky that I got to know him ^^

 

I'd be down for any future interviews you do or just anything where ya need some other people!

[Doomsday 4,130]

Jaxx Hextall is a stud

[IamMOOSE 361]

Was a joy to be a part of this with some great people. Would love to do it again some time.